Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $500,000 grant to Northeast Council of Governments (NECOG) in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to establish a new Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) to support small businesses with recovering and rebuilding following a natural disaster. The EDA project, of which a portion is located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $125,000 in local funds and is expected to create or retain 50 jobs and generate $625,000 in private investment.
“President Trump is dedicated to providing businesses and entrepreneurs with the resources they need to recover and become more resilient in the wake of natural disasters,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming. “This RLF will provide impacted businesses with the capital they need to recover and build back stronger after severe storms and flooding. The project’s location in Opportunity Zones will also attract additional private investment.”
This project is funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-20) (PDF), which provided EDA with $600 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) Program funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas affected by Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Lane, Typhoons Yutu and Mangkhut, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and other major natural disasters occurring in calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019, under the Robert T. Stafford Act. Please visit EDA’s Disaster Supplemental webpage.
A portion of the funding announced today goes to several of South Dakota’s 25 Opportunity Zones. Created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones are spurring economic development in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone initiative, see the Opportunity Now resources page here.
About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation’s regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.